Former Walmart may get new owner

The former Walmart could have a buyer.

John Hemmelgarn, director of Jay/Portland Building & Planning, said Thursday that Pioneer Packaging is looking to buy the property.

The former Walmart building, 1600 N. U.S. 27, Portland, housed a furniture store and been used as warehouse space since the Walmart Supercenter opened on Votaw Street in 2006. Pioneer Packaging would use it for storage for its nearby packaging center on 218 E. Lincoln St., Portland.

Portland Plan Commission rezoned the building from highway service to industrial at its meeting Thursday evening on the condition that if the building is sold again it will be subject to rezoning by the commission.

Susan and Wade Kohler of Pioneer Packaging said at the meeting that, if the company buys the property, the parking lot will be mostly unused and that any storage would happen solely inside the building.

“It’ll look mostly like it will now,” Wade Kohler said.

Any semis coming in and out of the property would come from Industrial Park Drive rather than Meridian Street to avoid traffic, Susan Kohler said. She added that they have no plans to conduct any processing at the building.

Commission members Don Gillespie, Steve McIntosh, Kyle Cook, Bart Darby, Lee Newman, Ron Laux, Janet Powers and Kent McClung discussed unexpired language in the deed that limits what the building can and can’t be used for, which has led to complications finding a buyer.

That language was added by Walmart when it bought the building and didn’t expire when it left.

Susan and Wade Kohler declined to comment on any specifics regarding a price or timeline of a potential acquisition of the building, but it’s currently listed online for about $2 per square foot a year for rent.

Georgetown Kentucky Investors out of Columbus, Ohio, currently owns the 65,000-square-foot building.